Relaxation Yoga
by Love2Love
Summary: It was a simple plan: take a yoga class, find her inner yogi and live a renewed life with yoga. Then Malfoy had to waltz in wearing his stupid yoga pants and twist her life around in a bunch of funny ways. The problem: she actually sort of liked it. DMHG.


**Author's Note: This story was written for one of my best friends, Geegee! Happy fifteenth and sixteenth birthdays! (Yes…it has been that long coming. :)) I hope you enjoy the story!**

**The rating is probably more of a K+ or whatever comes before T, but I chose T to be cautious.**

**Disclaimer: I confess. I am J.K Rowling! I am! You may not believe me, due to the fact that I've spent the better part of four years obsessing over fanfiction and haven't graduated from high school yet, but that's insignificant. I also own yogabasics . com and yogajournal . com. I bet you didn't know I do yoga, did you? Did you?**

**Update—thank you so much to **_close the refrigerator_**, who pointed out that I was using a rude word to describe a character in this story. Although this is really no excuse, I was unaware at the time of writing this that it was unacceptable and hadn't read over the story until now. I apologize to everyone for that, and have corrected the mistake.**

"Welcome to Relaxation Yoga!"

Hermione eyed her instructor hesitantly as she pulled her curly brown hair into a ponytail. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to stretch enough and snapped, sending her hair spilling out of its hold and cascading onto her shoulders. With a frustrated sigh she pulled another from her pocket and redid the motion with considerably more success.

"In this class, you'll be taught how to relax after a stressful day at work, or a fight, and be healthy doing it!" The woman speaking appeared to be in her late forties, with chestnut brown hair that was pulled back into a sporty ponytail and stretchy yoga pants, displaying her fit body. Her face was kind and she smiled as her class filed in the door. "I hope that by the end of this course your soul will feel nourished and healthy, just like your body."

Hermione pulled her dark purple mat from a bag she had with her and unbuttoned her light coat. She'd seen the ad for the class in the back of a newspaper and had read the sort of things they would be doing and what the course provided. Immediately afterwards she'd owled them to make sure she got a spot and nearly jumped for joy at their affirmative reply. Unfortunately, it was recommended that you didn't bring someone you knew to the class so you could achieve a state of personal happiness among strangers, so she was alone.

"If you could all just pick a spot on the floor facing me and get settled in, I'll check to make sure you're all registered. I'm Suzie, by the way." Suzie smiled at them again and Hermione felt instantly more comfortable.

She chose a spot in the back row, aware of how different that was than her school years, and unrolled her mat, before sitting cross-legged on it. It was quite comfortable; a bit spongy with a lot of grip. The yoga capri pants she'd bought were soft and stretchy and she liked how mobile they were. When she'd gone out to buy a pair for the class, she'd ended up buying five in various colours and – at the recommendation of the sales assistant – bought matching sweaters and tank tops. She really hoped that yoga would turn out well, because she told her friends she already knew she loved it as justification for how much money she'd spent.

While Suzie organized some of the mats and collected payments, Hermione looked around the room and eyed its inhabitants. There was a teenage boy who had a lip and eyebrow piercing, looking bored. A girl who seemed to be his age sat in front of him, eyeing him over her shoulder in a way that suggested they knew each other and she was trying to get him to notice her. A woman with beautiful dark hair was in the front row, and beside her sat a thin, short haired woman with a small baby bump. They were talking and seemed to be getting along quite well already.

"Is anyone using this spot?" Hermione looked up and shook her head at the handsome middle aged man who had asked her. He laid out his mat and sat down, before turning to her. "I'm William. Most people call me Will, though."

"Hermione." She said, shaking his hand and grinning. He was one of those men who aged incredibly well, in a Richard Gere-ish sort of way. Actually, he looked a bit like George Clooney. With a sneaky look she checked just to make sure he actually _wasn't_ George Clooney. You never knew, now, who might just pop up in your yoga class.

He wasn't.

"How are you?" Hermione asked, fiddling with a spare thread on her socks.

"Pretty good." He shrugged, rolling his shoulders. "A bit tense from work."

"What do you do?" She looked at him curiously, guessing from the obvious muscles on his frame that it was something psychical.

"Auror." Will said, grinning. "My wife's been trying to get me to make a career change. A few too many injuries. You?"

"Law Enforcement." She replied easily, glad the class was for wizards and witches only, so she didn't have to make sure not to reveal anything. Muggles were friendly and everything, but she always had to be conscious of everything she was saying and make up lies about where she'd gone to school and such. With witches and wizards she didn't have to do that so it was a lot more natural.

"Ah." He nodded wisely, "I can see why you've taken the class."

Hermione laughed, "As an Auror I imagine you have your fair share of stress."

He shrugged again, "I only have to take down the criminals, you have to actually talk to them."

"Mostly in court." Was her answer, "I tend to veer away from Criminal Defense. I'm afraid my morals tend to have a higher hand in the cases I take on than most like to admit."

Suzie began to call out names, and when hers was called she noticed several of her classmates eye her speculatively. People still paid special attention to her in public because of her connection to Harry and participation in fighting Voldemort. It was quite embarrassing, to be honest, the way her name attracted stares. She hadn't realized how small things, like the consistent presence of eyes on her, could be so _tiresome_. In particular, one man in the second row eyed her and then continued to stare. She shifted uncomfortably.

"Now, is anyone here who wasn't called?" Suzie asked and looked around. No one spoke, so she continued while she scribbled on her clipboard. "Excellent. It seems we're only missing one person today…Now, yoga is a relaxation process not only for the body but the soul as well. In this class, hopefully you will achieve the skill to continue yoga in your everyday lifestyle, and have a more relaxed approach to life's obstacles."

Hermione listened, mesmerized. It all sounded so perfect and exciting. A more relaxed approach to life's obstacles was _exactly_ what she needed. She could trade in her long baths and all that chocolate and tea for _yoga_. Ron and Harry would definitely stop nagging her to go jogging with them after she told them she was a master of yoga. The way Suzie was talking made her want to jump ahead into life as a changed person.

"Today we're just going to fill out some papers and do a few positions. I'm also going to show you how to stretch so that your muscles don't strain. Because this class is also about relaxation each week we're going to outfit this room to be your most relaxing place! Include as many details as you can on the sheet so we can get it right." She was passing around white pieces of paper and pens. Hermione took hers happily, quickly filling in the basic information and then pausing when it asked her to name her favourite, most relaxing place.

_The most relaxing place I can think of…_She wondered what it was. _A library? I do like books…And the smell is_ so_ lovely. Or a bathtub. But then, how would she turn the room into a bathtub? It has to be reasonable. What about…A sauna? No, we'd all be sweating buckets…_

After much thought, she scribbled down _a library_ and described the wonderful feeling of infinite knowledge surrounding her, the smell of the books and the shelves and opening each new book and feeling the delicate pages.

"What did you write?" She asked Will as Suzie collected the paper. "For your place?"

"Florida." He said wistfully, "On the beach."

"Oh." She felt quite stupid. A _library_? That would be so strange - every other week they would walk in to sand and the sun and then, in her class, they would walk in to dusty shelves and piles of books. "I put a library."

His lips twitched in amusement. "I'm sure that will be one of the more unique ones."

Suzie set down the stack of papers and turned back to the class. "So, we'll start off with a few stretches. When you become more used to practicing yoga, you won't need to. However, I don't have the intimate details of your lives and don't want anyone's experience here to be ruined because your muscles weren't stretched."

She flicked her wand and soft, easy music filtered in the room. Hermione could already _feel_ herself relaxing. It just showed you what the proper environment and incentive could do to cleanse your soul. Maybe she should buy a few CD's like this one and play them in the office. At least then if Margaret and John starting bellowing at each other again, she could just turn it up and drown them out. "Now," Suzie said, her voice calm and soothing. "We're going to stretch in silence and let our mind gather its thoughts."

She stood with her legs shoulder width apart and Hermione got up, mimicking her position. When the rest of the class had followed suit, she placed one leg in front of the other and leaned forward. Hermione copied the movement and leaned until she felt a stretch. _This isn't so hard. _She said, thrilled. _They told me it might be difficult. Wait until I tell them how clean and collected I feel!_

Suzie led them through a series of stretches and then relaxed into a more casual standing position, flicking her wrist and changing the music. Her movements were very fluid and Hermione was pretty sure that calmness was oozing from her pores, where the students waited to suck it in like sponges.

_Yoga is so amazing. _She gushed inwardly. _I wonder what the office would do if I suggested we all take a class together? I doubt there would be so much arguing after _that.

"Now, the first position we are going to do is the _Ardha __Parsvottanasana_, or the Half Pyramid. It's a slight variation from the full Pyramid. Lets get on our mats, shall we?" She got down on her hands and knees and after a moment, everyone else followed, Hermione marveling at her pronunciation. She'd always thought yoga positions were called the 'leaping dog' or the 'silent tiger.'

"The first thing I'd like you to do is close your eyes. Now," Hermione's eyes flickered shut, "lift your right leg and bend it so the knee rests just over your right ankle, in a low lunge."

_Hm. I'm not sure what a low lunge is. _The brunette thought, _Maybe I'll just take a quick peak to see what she's doing. _She opened her eyes and then mimicked the position, almost as though she was preparing to stand up. Her eyes shut.

"Now, I'm going to ask you to take a deep breath. As you exhale, straighten your right leg and point your toes. When you're ready, press your hips towards your left heel until you're comfortable."

Slowly, Hermione exhaled and straightened her leg. _This is calming. I had my doubts, but I feel so…relaxed. Nothing can hassle me, now._

"Now, hunch your spine upwards-"

_No, no, no! I'm not ready! I haven't moved my hips yet!_ She hurriedly pressed her hips backwards and then arched her spine, pressing her head to her right knee. She let her hands rest, relaxed, by her right foot.

"Good." Suzie said approvingly. "Very good. Now, hold this pose for eight seconds. Inhale when you need to, but do so calmly and without hurry."

_My leg aches a bit._ She thought offhandedly. _Am I pressing my hips too hard? Maybe I should stop doing it like that. Should I angle it a bit to the right? Maybe I'm not even doing it right. I wonder what Suzie looks like right now._

"Hold the pose." Their instructor said, "Hold it and let the positive energy flood through your system. I can already feel the positivity coming off you. Next we're going to do it again, using our left leg foremost instead."

_I love yoga. _Hermione thought dreamily, shifting her body and following Suzie's instructions. _This is the most worthwile class I've taken since I attended the course on manipulating the emotions of your oponents in court without them realizing it. Nothing can stop me from achieving mental, physical and spiritual content._

Hermione's spirits bubbled happily over the next week. A few days after her first class she had lunch with Harry, Ginny, Ron and his longtime girlfriend Shelby. What had started out as the best time for them all to get away from Auror training had turned into a nice lunch every Saturday. After they'd all received their foor, Hermione explained that it would be very beneficial if they all took a course, because she felt completely cleansed.

"Already?" Harry asked in amusement. "After one class?"

"Yeah," she said, taking a bite of her chicken salad. "Oh, by the way, I met a man there. His name's Will."

"You met someone?" Ginny said, looking impresed. "Maybe this class _is_ a good idea."

"No, not romantically." She clarified as she speared a piece of chicken, ignoring the visually disheartened expressions that donned the faces of her friends. "Its only been _one_ year since Ben and I called it quits. I've just been busy. Besides, I'm only twenty-six! I've got plenty of time to find someone and settle down. Right now, I'm just focusing on my career."

"Hm." Ron said, munching his toasted turkey sandwhich. "I guess. Maybe you should look around a bit, though. Just to be sure an opportunity isn't going unnoticed."

"OK, OK." Hermione said, waving a hand. "Anyways, Will. He said he works as an Auror and I was wondering if you knew him?"

"Will?" Harry paused thoughtfully, taking a sip of coffee. "We've got a few Wills. What his last name?"

"I'm not sure. Something like Hamford." She took a drink of her champagne, tryng to remember his last name when Suzie had done attendence. "or Hanlind?"

"Hanford?" Ginny asked, turning to Harry. "Didn't you and I talk to him and his wife at the last Auror dinner?"

The Ministry had recently taken a bit more of a social approach in its Auror department. Once a month they held a dinner party for Aurors and their families to come and chat, which was supposed to encourage feelings of unity between the partners and teams and present a more friendly, sociable front to citizens who'd developed false ideas about them, and whether or not they actually had batons to beat people with. Well, in truth that had only been a couple of people.

"Oh, Will!" Harry said suddenly, eyes lighting up in recognition. "He was the one who's working with Allan on Jigsaw."

"The one who got hit by that really bad curse and was in St Mungos for a month?" Shelby asked, eyes wide.

The Aurors liked to nickname their cases for reasons that no one else could understand, which annoyed Hermione a bit. Especially because they weren't allowed to give important details to the public about what it was they were doing. Once, Harry and Ron had worked together on one named Wet Towel, and after she'd guessed a million different reasons for its name, she found out it was because someone had gone around strangling people with wet towels.

They were a really smart bunch, those Aurors. Clever namers, too.

Of course, _now_, they told Hermione a lot about the cases they were investigating. It wasn't quite an offence, however, because she sometimes managed to help them find answers to a certain problem they had and because she, too, was a Ministry employee. That, and the fact that they never let anyone else know exactly how much she knew because she didn't exactly share the details with anyone else.

"Was there anyone there who you could consider dating?" Ginny asked hopefully.

"No," Hermione said, laughing a bit. "No, this is just for a fun, relaxing time. I'm quite enjoying the class, so far! Nothing could ruin it for me."

"You jinxed it." Shelby said warningly, and Hermione laughed.

"There was only one person missing from class last night, though, so unless they turn out to be a complete toad, I don't see how it could be bad."

"Be careful." The other woman said in a sing-song voice, raising her eyebrows. "You never know."

"You put more faith in superstition than you really should." Hermione replied with a laugh, waving her hand.

She spoke too soon. Much, much too soon.

"Hello," Hermione greeted Will warmly at their next session, laying out her mat flat on the floor. "How was your week?"

"Good." He said, eyes sparkling. "Didn't get hit by anything life threatening and the wife still lets me sleep in our room. And yours?"

"It was alright." She said, and grinned. "I'm glad to have another go here, though."

"My wife interogated me after our last one; tried to find out if it was worthwile. I told her to wait until a few lessons more." He said, smiling wryly.

"I told my friends I already felt cleansed, but they were skeptical." She said, shrugging. "They don't understand."

He nodded and opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly her senses honed in on someone walking through the door and anything he might have said was lost. Her muscles went stiff, her back tensed and her hair practically shot on end, like the hair on a cat's tail when it gets aggravated. Because this person wasn't just _someone_. Oh, no. She remembered everything about him.

His silky, wonderfully windswept blond hair.

The confident, borderline cocky swagger.

That pale, clear skin.

Those deep, grey eyes.

And that smooth, casual voice.

It was the devil himself. Albeit a handsome one.

"I'm not late, I hope?" Draco Malfoy asked Suzie, who looked up.

"Oh no, of course not." She said in a friendly voice, "Just take the empty spot in the second row. We've still a few minutes yet."

He took off his coat and then his scarf, turning to walk forwards and saw her gaping at him. His face registered shock for a moment, and then did what hers was still incapable of, relaxing into an amused expression. "Hey, Granger."

"Malfoy." She squeaked, her complete and utter dumbfoundedness taking over her usually collected disposition.

"Alright, there?" He asked, a hint of arrogance tinting his tone. Had she not been so completely shocked she might have noticed how wonderful his eyes were. But she didn't, of course. She was in shock.

"Of course." Hermione cleared her throat and crossed her legs on her mat. "How are you getting on, these days?"

She was actually pretty sure she knew how he was getting on. Draco had, to many of her companions' shock, gone through Auror training and had passed the tests with flying colours. He'd been regarded with awe after working on the case they'd named Operation Frog, because someone had been going around putting poisons into things the Aurors consumed. That in itself was quite a feat, since many were as paranoid as Moody had been. In any case, frogs were one of the sources of food for King Cobras, which was the main poison that the Aurors were threatened with.

Just another example of how the Aurors had a knack for naming cases.

For about four months, during which she constantly heard many peoples' dismay over how long it was taking them to solve the case, they couldn't figure out how the Aurors were being poisoned – and so they were starting to only eat and drink food they'd prepared themselves and had to keep their lunch room heavily spelled to repel intruders.

The story of how Draco had solved it was quite a well published and often told story. People never tired of it – or at least people who didn't work in the Ministry – so often, a journalist would compare something to Draco's solution and immediately more people would read it. Such as '_With the same amount of cleverness and wit as was used by Draco Malfoy on the Auror dubbed Operation Frog, Celestina carefully stepped through the floo without ruffling her massive, flowing train.' _That sentence alone had given Celestina the unrelentess attention she'd always craved for about one week.

It had all started with a large group of actors and actresses who were angry because they weren't getting paid enough and swarmed a bank, which was actually protesting in its stupidest form, and so a few teams of Aurors were sent to deal with the situation.

Harry, whose arm was slashed open by a rather hysterical leading lady, had been about to swig back a vial of Healing potion after they'd taken control of the situation. Aurors had small vials of potions concealed all over their body for different purposes, which made it quite convenient in battle to pull one out and heal themselves, or whatnot. After seeing that, Draco had figured out that the person had been putting the poison in their potions.

There were certain types of poisonous animals whose venom did not change any of the properties of potions, which made it quite easy to sabatoge opponents. However, they _were_ detectable, if people examined them the right way. The problem was that the person who was supposed to check out their potions supply had, ironically enough, been the one to poison them. Luckily, a person particulary adept at Potions, such as Draco Malfoy, would know that sort of thing.

Everything had unfolded after his initial glance; at the simple sight of Harry Potter trying to heal his arm. He had potentially saved Harry's life by tackling him to the ground to stop him from drinking it. A few elbows or kicks along the way had been purely accidental, of course. Newspapers had gone crazy afterwards, repeatedly quoting Draco or figuring out how many different ways they could _mis_quote him as evidence of a torrid love affair between him and Harry.

That one got old really fast.

So Draco's reputation of Auror Extroadinaire had developed, and he was often sent on difficult or extremly important operations with Harry and Ron, which had inspired a bit of a truce between the three. The only time Hermione had really seen him was at the Auror functions she went to, or randomly in the Ministry. It must have been seeing him so suddenly that had made her act so strangely. It wasn't like she was used to having him pop up suddenly in yoga classes. George Clooney she could handle, Draco Malfoy not so much.

"Pretty well, you?" He asked politely, which was another world shocking revelation she had to deal with. Somehow, she still pretty much retained the idea that while he might be a good Auror and had healed things over a bit with Harry and Ron, he would still _have_ to a be an arrogant git. It just made sense. There were certain things that remained constant – the world being tilted on its axis, the ocean currents and Draco Malfoy's arrogance.

"Alright." She said, shrugging nonchalently and casually leaning back, trying to give the I'm-a-yoga-master impression. "You like yoga?"

"No, I came here to watch you all do it. I thought it would be fun." He said sarcastically. "Isn't that what most people do?"

"I'm glad to see you're still as witty as you used to be." She shot back, eyeing him and noticing his long legs. He was wearing nice pants. They were basically man yoga pants. Not really tight in a questionable way, but still snug enough to show that he was quite fit. "Obviously being hit over the heat repeatedly with spells hasn't permanently addled your brain. Mind if I have a go?"

"Still suppresing violent urges, I see." He said mockingly. "You know, yoga isn't going to solve your fixation with hurting people, maybe you should try anger management."

She frowned. Hm, that had actually been quite clever. Time to step it up a notch. "What do _you_ know about yoga?"

That wasn't exactly mind-boggling.

"Actually," Suzie said, suddenly present beside her. "Draco has taken this class for the past five years."

"Oh." Hermione said, pulling her hair up nonchalently. "Well, then."

Draco was looking at her expectantly, but she didn't say anything else so he just sniggered, nodded to Will and sat down. Will was watching her curiously. "We went to school together." She spoke quietly so Draco wouldn't hear. "Never quite got on."

"I guessed as much." He replied, grinning. "He's a good guy. I've worked with him, before."

"We obviously have different ideas of what 'good guy' entails." She chuckled as Will let out a loud bark of laughter, attracting the attention of the teenager with the peircing. He looked solemnly at them, before turning back to the front and ignoring the poor girl desperate for him to notice her, to the point that she let out an extremely loud peal of laughter that drew the attention of those surrounding her.

"Well, everyone seems to be here!" Suzie said cheerfully, walking to the front. "Now, to help everyone get comfortable, let's have a bit of a chat first. We're going to go through the class and share one relaxing thing we did this week, and one stressful thing. So, chop chop! Everyone get into a circle!"

With more difficulty than there should have been they all moved into a circle. It was partly due to the teenager looking for somewhere he could go where the girl wasn't, so in the end he dove into the spot on the other side of Hermione, just before the other spot next to him was taken. The brunette witch chuckled in amusement and Will smiled at the teenager, who shrugged.

"Who'd like to start?" Suzie asked after they'd arranged themselves comfortably. "Yes, Bethany!"

The pregnant woman smiled at them. "The stressful thing was definitely when I had to watch that birthing video. Gave me nightmares." She shuddered and a few of the older women nodded in understanding. "And the good thing was when…my husband and I felt the baby kicking for the first time."

"Good." Suzie said approvingly. "I like that you've connected the good and the bad things in your week. It helps the mind become more calm and self assured. How far along are you?"

"Three and a half months." Bethany said with a nervous smile.

"Oh, good." Suzie smiled gently, "We'll go clockwise from here."

They went around the circle, wasting time that was _supposed_ to be for cleansing while the people in the class dawdled over finding good things in their weeks. Hermione kept looking around for a clock, but couldn't find one. She remembered Suzie mentioning about how time was unimportant in the spectrum of self-appreciation, or something like that, but they only had two hours. Two hours, and then she'd have another week until the next class! _How was she supposed to be spiritually calm in the time they had left! _It must have been half an hour they'd been sitting already.

"Er…I dunno. The good thing would be…" The teenager beside her, whose name was Gavin, as she'd learned, said. "Er… Like, when I got accepted into the training program I wanted for Curse Breaking. And the bad would be when I fell and broke my wrist."

Everyone looked at his wrist which, as an obvious result of magic, was perfectly fine. "Hermione?" Suzie prompted. Hermione looked up in surprise, wracking her brain.

"A bad thing…When my assistant forgot to tell me about a letter, and so I didn't have a chance to contact my client before they left the country." She said, tapping her chin. "And a good thing would be when I managed to reach them before they left, because it could have caused a catatastrophe of clataclysmic proportions if they'd been unreachable."

The class looked at her silently and she shrugged, turning to Will. He made a small joke involving Aurors wounds in his examples and she laughed appreciatively, before following everyone's gaze to Draco. "The bad would have to be when my partner was hit with a bad curse and had to go to St. Mungo's. The good…" He glanced quickly at Hermione, smirking. "Was when I met up with someone I knew in school, but haven't talked to in awhile."

She flushed. Why would he say _that_? Unless, of course, he'd met more than one person this week and only said that to sike her out! Yes, that was it! Obviously he didn't see meeting her again as a _good_ thing.

"Oh, really?" Suzie asked, interested. "Where did you meet up with…her?"

"Yeah, she's a she." He nodded, "Actually, she's in this class."

_Bullocks._

"Really?" Suzie looked at Hermone in interest, obviously making the connection. "Who is it?"

"Granger over here." He looked at her, his grey eyes practically mocking her frm where he sat in his stupid man-yoga pants.

"'Granger?'" Echoed Suzie, a confused frown on her face.

"Something we never grew out of, I suppose." Draco said by way of explanation, still looking at her. "We never really got on."

Hermione snorted loudly, drawing the attention of most people in the class. "Oh. Erm, sorry."

"Well, it's wonderful that you can put old animosity behind you! Perhaps you two will even bond through these classes." She looked happily between them. "I hope that knowing each other doesn't interupt your spiritual connection to your soul, though."

"It won't." The brunnette assured her, having no intention to have any contact with Draco. So maybe they had a class together, and he had nice yoga pants – that was no grounds for a _friendship_. While Suzie might think that they could bond, Hermione didn't entertain any unrealistic expectations. All she wanted from the class was to become at peace with every facet of her mental and spiritual state of being.

"Good, well, everyone's shared, now?" She looked around, her eyes quickly scanning the faces of those in the class. "Excellent, lets get back into our regular formation."

With a sigh of relief, the old Gryfindor moved her mat back to its original position. Suzie began to lead them through stretches, and Hermione imitated her, taking slow breaths. However, as they moved on to real yoga, she couldn't ignore how her mind was buzzing in a way it hadn't since she'd left Hogwarts – the way it hadn't since she'd last spoken to Draco Malfoy.

"Malfoy?" Ron was guffawing, the large plate of food before him totally forgotten "_Draco_ is in your class?"

"Yeah." She replied glumly, looking around as though he would pop out from behind a table.

"And he claimed that seeing you was a good thing?" Shelby asked, looking far more amused than the situation called for.

"Yeah. I wonder if he's taken up drugs." Hermione fiddled with her straw thoughtfully, discomfited. "That would explain the stupid constipated expression he's always got on." Actually, his expressions were all varying degrees of attractive, so she added in something else for good measure. "And that he thinks its OK to wear those yoga pants."

"He's not all that bad." Harry said unhelpfully, folding his hands in his lap and ignoring her comment on the pants. "He's not like he was in Hogwarts."

"I know, I know." She said gloomily. "I'm just not used to seeing him in strange places. I honestly never thought I'd have another conversation with him, after Hogwarts, and he has the weirdest pants…"

"'The weirdest pants'?" Ginny repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, they're like man yoga-pants. Who has man yoga-pants?" She shrugged winsomely. "All the others wear sweatpants, and whatnot. But not him."

"Just don't worry about it, Hermione." Shelby said consolingly, while the two men appeared to be trying to hold back laughter. "He'll probably not want to talk too much to you, anyway. And I suppose you'll just have to endure the pants."

"Yeah." She nodded, sighing and rubbing her temples. She didn't notice the laughter Ginny hid behind her glass of water or the looks Ron and Shelby exchanged.

"Maybe you should come to the gym with us and work out some of your stress." Ron suggested, and Harry began to nod empathically.

"No, thanks." She wrinkled her nose. The idea of going to a gym, with all those sweating, muscular bodies and smelly equipment was not at all appealing to her. She'd never been one for organized physcial activity and much preferred being hidden away, alone, in libraries. Especially since she had yoga as a spiritual and physical release. "Anyways, I should really head out early."

Her friends protested and she hurried on to give them an explanation. "I have errands to run, and then I have to pick up some files from the Ministry. I'll talk to you later."

They said their goodbyes and hugged her and soon she was bursting out onto the streets of Hogsmeade. She noticed younger teenagers and scarves coloured for Hogwarts Houses, smiling when a teenage boy tugged on a girl's Gryffindor scarf, making her squeal. Ignoring the tug of longing she felt when she wondered when she would find someone to be with she pulled her coat more tightly around her. For September the fact that it wasn't raining was quite a bonus, but it was still cold.

Her first stop was Flourish and Botts, which had thankfully not changed much from her younger years. She hated walking into, say, Madam Malkins and getting lost when she'd shopped there for over ten years. She walked up to the front counter and waited patiently for the worker to notice she was there.

"Oh!" Brittany jumped when she turned around, hurriedly pushing her glasses up her nose. She looked quite frazzled, the brunette noted. "Hermione, I didn't notice you there!"

"Sorry." She smiled apologetically. "I'm here to pick up my delivery."

"Oh, right! You know, we've been so busy with this new order coming in, and we're trying to train this new boy but he doesn't know the book titles, and now Marcus's brother is back in the hospital, so he's been awfully stressed." Brittany began to chat amiably as she sorted through boxes in the back, but there was a tension in her voice. "We've accidentally mixed up one of the other orders. This woman came back in a really angry mood, because we hadn't had to time to sort it out and gosh, it was just awful. Ah! Here we are."

With excitement Hermione watched her three books slipped into a cloth bag and she paid quickly. She'd recently fallen in love with an author who lived in the United States and wrote romance books. Unfortunately, they weren't largely popular in Britain, so she'd had to order the fourth, fifth and sixth books and had been waiting three months for their arrival.

Needless to say, she'd already pulled them out of their plastic casing and was looking at their glossy covers two steps from the store. To her surprise, she was looking at the second, third and fourth and not those she'd ordered.

"Er, Brittany?" She walked back into the store a bit awkwardly.

"Oh, yeah!" The blond turned around, smiling warmly. "What's wrong?"

"I think there might have been a mixup."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Her face fell and she took back the books. "OK, so I must have just grabbed the wrong number. Can I see your order receipt again?"

"Of course." She handed across the piece of paper and Brittany consulted it, before looking through the shelves. Hermione looked around the shop and inhaled, smiling, turning back when Brittany spoke again. "Oh, no. Hermione, there's been a mistake."

"A mistake?" Her blood ran cold in the way it did when she didn't have access to books she desperately wanted.

"We accidentily gave your order to a customer who was in earlier!" She looked so upset and stressed out that the Gryffindor felt compelled to do something.

"Oh. Well, that's alright. If you want, I can go sort it out and you don't need to worry about it." She suggested, "I have their order and they have mine, right?"

"Yes, and they were both pre-paid. But I can't ask you to do that. It's our fault."

"I want to." She said, shaking her head. "It won't be a problem."

"Oh, thank you! That's _such_ a relief." Brittany began to sort through a pile of documents. "Erm…They work at the Ministry, so I'll give you that information. Just don't tell anyone, OK? Technically I'm not supposed to give out this, but I know you and you've been a really faithful costumer."

"OK," she accepted the paper willingly. "That's perfect, I'm heading to the Ministry anyway."

"Oh, great! OK. If there are any problems, just come back in!"

Hermione smiled. "Alright. Thanks, Brittany."

"See you later. And thank you." She'd already turned back to her desk and was hurriedly sorting through a pile of papers.

She left the shop smiling, but with a healthy dose of determination. She would get those books if it killed her. Nothing seperated Hermione Granger from what she wanted.

Nothing.

"Hello, Marge." She nodded to the secretary of the Auror Department's Head, Mad-Eye Moody, already well acquainted with most people in it. Being friends of Harry, Ginny, Ron and Shelby pretty much connected her to most people in that section, so she knew plenty of Aurors.

"Oh! They're all out for lunch right now," the middle aged woman spoke regretfully. The only way the Aurors could leave (at least conventionally) was past Marge, and since she'd seen Hermione so often, they knew each other pretty well and the secretary automatically associated her with her four close friends. "I don't think they realized you'd be in."

"I'm not here to see them, thanks, though." She smiled and greeted those she recognized while she passed, heading straight to the more private offices. To her surprise, the note Brittany had scribbled down was for the office two doors down from Harry's, and she knocked with slight trepidation and a lot of curiosity.

"-not sure how she'll take to the investigation, but-" Draco opened the door and stopped speaking, turning to smile. "Oh." The smile slid off his face for a moment to be replaced by surprise. "Hello."

"Malfoy?" She asked in surprise, looking down at the paper again. "Is this your office?"

"Yeah. Can I help you with something?" He leaned against the door frame, cocking an eyebrow and successfully blocking the person inside from seeing her.

"There seems to have been a mixup with Flourish and Botts. I think this might be the wrong door." She highly doubted that he read romance novels, so she stepped backwards.

"Wait for a second." He slipped back into the office and then exited with a bag similar to her own. "Did you buy books four, five and six?"

"Er, yeah." She said slowly, "Did you order two, three and four?"

"Yeah. Thank God you brought them here." They traded bags and he laughed gleefully, before catching her expression and clearing his throat. "Er, right. I don't suppose you wouldn't mind not mentioning this to anyone?"

"Embarassed?" She asked, smiling haughtily. Now she had the upper hand, for once! Er, well, the more _powerful_ upper hand. She_ often_ had the upper hand. Or she _had_, anyways, back at school. Obviously they were both past that petty rivalry, now.

"No, I just don't think all the Aurors in this department will appreciate the artistry of her writing." He nodded empthically and she shrugged.

"Sure. Nice excuse, Malfoy." Hermione shook her head, "But anyways, I have to go. I'm…meeting Harry and Ron for lunch."

His eyes widened a bit and she almost cackled with glee. "Listen, Granger, how about I, er, treat you to coffee."

"Coffee?" She repeated, trying to sound disdainful, but the amusement in her voice gave the act away.

"Yeah. Coffee. After the next yoga class. We can discuss the books."

She pursed her lips thoughtfully. She never was one to turn down a good discussion on literature, especially when there was only one person who knew that she was reading a certain book. "Well, OK."

"Really?" He asked doubtfully.

"Didn't think I'd say yes?" She raised her eyebrows rakishly, and shrugged. "I'm holding you to that coffee, Malfoy."

With a satisfied smile she turned and walked away, her books momentarily forgotten. Nothing like a bit of witty repartee with a certain blond to make her spirits soar.

The perverse nature of that sentence made her stop in her tracks, shake her head and blink, before setting out again. Unbeknownst to her, said blond was watching her retreat with a similarily satisfied smirk.

"Hello, Hermione!" Suzie greeted her happily and she nodded, blowing on her fingers. It had begun snowing the previous day and was ice cold outside. Her too-thin yoga clothing provided little comfort and, even with her scarf wrapped tightly enough to practically strangle her, she still felt chilled to the bone. "How was your week?"

"Alright. Yours?" She took a moment longer than she normally would have to answer, mostly due to the colours that decorated the room. The ground was soft and grassy, and the ceiling looked like a massive expanse of blue sky. A soft breeze was floating through the slightly above normal temperature room and it smelled wonderful. She wondered whose favourite place this was.

"Wonderful! Come on in!"

"Thanks." She carefully unrolled her mat and settled down on it, sighing. She was exhausted from a difficult week at work – one of her clients was being charged for fraud, while Hermione _knew_ she hadn't done it and all but one piece of evidence to prove it: the alibi, which the stupid woman refused to give her. Hermione suspected that she wouldn't admit where she'd been because it had something to do with plastic surgery and regretted even getting involved in such a trivial matter. She'd only done it because the man who was trying to charge her – and who, as she _hadn't_ informed Hermione, was also her ex-husband – had been a completely discriminatory arse.

"Oh, hey Will." She greeted him as he sat beside her.

"Hello." He smiled welcomingly, "You know who I'm working on a case with, now?"

"Who?" She asked, having the strange feeling she _knew_ who and wondering why he thought it was important for her to know.

"Your Draco Malfoy."

"He's not _my_ Draco Malfoy." She said, blushing in an annoyingly embarassed way.

"I'm not?" His voice sounded behind her and she jumped. "This has been the most shocking news of my life. How will I cope?"

"The same way you always used to when Harry and Ron beat you in Quidditch." She retorted, feeling a spark ignite within her.

"Calmly and with sophistication?" Draco suggested brightly, holding his mat in his hands.

"No, sullenly and like a wimp."

"Ouch. That was a major blow to my ego." He let go of one side of the mat and placed his hand dramatically over his heart.

"I'm sure it will survive." She shot back, enjoying their witty banter far more than she should have. "Its certainly big enough."

"Touché." He said, letting his arm fall to his side.

"Settle down, everyone." Suzie walked back to the front of the class, "How have your weeks been?"

There were a few murmured answers and she smiled sympathetically. "Tiring?"

"Yeah." Hermione agreed fervently and a few people nodded as well.

"Good. We've got a nice relaxing class ahead of us. Props to Jennifer, whose place this is." She nodded to a quiet, eldery looking woman in the front row who Hermione knew was actually quite limble and flexible. In fact, she had actually been a bit jealous when they'd tried one of the more mobile positions and she had kept on falling over, while that woman just pranced around easily.

"Let's start by sharing good and bad moments." She didn't have them move into a circle that time, and they went through the class quite a bit more rapidly than they had before. Hermione used work for both the good and the bad, and Draco used the chance meeting between them at the ministry for his good. She wasn't exactly sure whether or not she liked that, and wondered if they were still going to have coffee later.

"Now, I'd like to talk about pain before we start." Suzie said, "What kind of pain do we experience in our every day lives? And I mean physical pain."

"Headaches." Hermione said wryly, and Draco caught her eye, grinning.

"OK, what else?"

"Muscle pain." Will said, "From working too hard."

"Or from being hit by a curse." Draco piped up, and the teenager with the peircings looked at him with interest.

"Back pain." The pregnant woman said, grimacing. Once again, the elder woman in the group were nodding and Hermione began to rethink the whole children thing, wondering how Mrs. Weasley was still alive and well. She'd heard her talking with another woman about labour and had been absolutely horrified. Obviously she knew how it went along and everything but she hadn't realized that classes on how to convert your screams of agony into deep and soul searching breaths were necessary.

"Good. Those are all excellent examples. Now, I'd like you to think about how you react to that pain." Suzie paused for that to sink in, and Hermione thought about how she had to pop advil every few hours and drink plenty of water, since most charms didn't work well enough to get rid of them. "Think about it emotionally; about how your emotional and mental reactions make it difficult for you to find release and heal the pain."

She supposed that swearing a bit violently and getting overly frustrated with her assistants was probably not the best way to deal with migraines. _It's amazing how much I've already learned. _She thought admiringly of Suzie. _She's such a good teacher!_

"Do you think that by learning to distinguish between your reactions and the _real_ pain can help you get over it sooner?"

"I hope so." The pregnant woman said, laughing a bit nervously.

Suzie smiled kindly at her. "As we all know, Bethany is experiencing the miracle of life. For all of you ladies who've had children, or you men who've supported your wives through childbirth, you know it's a very trying but worthwhile endeavor. Perhaps when you go into labour, some of the techniques you learn in this class will assist you."

Hermione drank up her instructor's words as she went on to describe the various ways of re-awakening your consciousness while going through pain and seperating your spiritual, emotional and physical self. She had a brief image of Ron, Harry and her in the gym while the two boys complained about their muscles and she just jogged on the spot, remarking on how yoga changed her life.

"Hermione? Was there something you wanted to share?" The class had turned to face her. "You were smiling," Suzie added when she only got a blank look, "I thought maybe you had something important that the class would benefit from hearing."

"Oh." She blushed, "No. I was just wondering if, er, physical exercise has a positive role in, er, regards to our spiritual selves."

"An excellent question." The pregnant woman – Bethany – looked appreciatively at her and they shared a smile. "The endorphins that kick in to your system after exercise are a wonderful influence on your spiritual content, and I recommend working out at least once a week, especially with your friends. Not only is it good for your physical health, but receiving endorphins while spending time with your friends it good for your emotional health and relationships as well."

_Hm. _She thought, smiling the way one smiles after their question is answered. _I don't think I'll tell Harry and Ron about that one._

After class she moved deliberately slowly, rolling up her mat and slipping her shoes on with exaggerated tiredness. Hermione was hoping that if she didn't zip out of the place Draco would approach her about whether or not they were still going out for coffee. She didn't _want_ to, of course, but she also didn't want to appear _rude_. It wasn't until she'd buttoned up her coat and was slipping her scarf around her neck that he spoke to her.

"So, are you still up for a coffee?"

She started slightly, whirling around, and pretended she hadn't been wondering if he would ask her that. "Oh. Malfoy. Sure. I told you I'd hold you to that."

He smiled at her grin and gestured to the door. "Great. Shall we?"

"Yeah." She lifted up her bag and shouldered it, following him out into the frosty night air. "Where are we going?"

"There's a little shop just around the corner." He said and followed her gaze around the street. "It's owned by muggles."

"Oh." That made sense; they were in Muggle London. "So you've been doing yoga for awhile?"

"Yeah." He shoved his gloved hands into his pockets as the wind rippled, blowing her hair around her face. "I tried a few classes at different places, but I liked this one the best."

"Hm. Don't you think you can do an advanced class by now?" She asked curiously, inhaling deeply. For some reason, cold air always seemed to make her lungs breath more easily. "If you've been doing it for so long?"

"I don't really have time. Besides, I like Suzie and I've invested quite a bit of money is this program, so I figured I might as well enjoy it." He shrugged and turned to look at her. "Would you prefer if I was in an advanced class?"

"No." Hermione flushed, cursing his ability to make her do that. "What do you mean you invested money in this program? If you don't mind me asking."

"No problem." They began to cross the street, talking companionably. "The person who owned the company had a few financial problems, and I'd just started taking the class so I offered to make an agreement with them. I'd give them money now to keep it running and make improvements and then they'd pay me back in the long run. They ended up selling to Suzie and we worked so well together that I became a partner."

"Oh." She glanced at his face and then turned her eyes back to the cobblestones they walked on. "That's interesting."

He laughed softly. "Not really, but you can keep pretending. Here we are."

She stepped delightedly into the warmth and brightness of the shop and the delicious aroma of cinnamon and coffee wafted over to her nose. "Mmm."

"Mmm." He echoed her with agreement.

They wandered over to the front counter and she looked, enraptured, into the glass cases full of cakes, tarts, pies and squares_. Ooh, look at that cheesecake!_ She ogled it, her mouth watering, and then looked back up to the drink menus. "Hm. The frappuccino looks good."

"Mhm." He nodded thoughtfully and then looked at her. "Are you ready to order?"

"Yeah." She agreed, even though she didn't actually know what she wanted. She figured she'd just make a split second decision. That always worked. They stepped up to the counter and the man behind it smiled.

"What can I get for you?"

"I'll have the…er…the…" Her eyes quickly scanned the boards again and she was painfully aware of their eyes on her. Hurriedly she read off the first name she saw. "The Mocha Latté Caramel Fruity Cocoa…" Her voice trailed off and she jerked her head to the side. "I think I'll just have hot chocolate, thanks."

"Alright." He typed quickly on the cash register. "And for you?"

"I'll have the same." Draco smiled in a friendly way, which suited her well. She always maintained that she would never date anyone who didn't treat people who were working well. _Not that we're dating. Or will be. _She hastily ammended_. _ "And we'll have two pieces of the Raspberry Crème Cheescake."

_Oh. _She looked at him in surprise as he paid. _He must have noticed that I thought it looked good. Observant. Hmph. Or maybe just creepily watchful! Yeah, that's definitely it. He's a creepy watcher. With good taste._

Draco picked up their drinks and she took the plates, trying to keep her eyes off the delicate, off-yellow centre and the delicious raspberry sauce, dripping over the edges of the white chocolate enshrowded raspberry topping. She suddenly realized how hungry she was as her stomach rolled, grumbling.

"Skipped lunch?" The blond guessed as he slid into a seat. She took the one opposite him, nodding.

"Yeah. Busy day." She shrugged, unwinding her scarf to let some air on her neck. Draco's eyes lingered significantly on her exposed collarbone and she flushed. _Oh, stop acting like such an inexperienced schoolgirl!_

"Hm. You should try working off some of the stress in a gym." He said offhandedly, picking up a fork. She followed suit, nearly sighing with content as she took her first bite of cake. The tangy sweetness from the rasberries darted around her mouth while the smooth white chocolate drizzled behind, sending pleasant feelings to her tastebuds.

"Harry and Ron are always telling me that." She shook her head, "I don't see the point."

"You feel great after a good workout." He pointed out, "And exercise is good for you."

"Do you work out?" She asked, for a moment picturing Draco's lithe body on a treadmill, his shirt glistening with sweat and his face concentrated.

"Yeah. I tried to do twice a week for awhile, but don't have the time. Sometimes I only get there every other week, but I try for at least once. You have to keep fit to be a good Auror. I see Harry and Ron there a lot on Fridays." He lifted his hot chocolate to his lips and she felt compelled to add that she often went to that gym, as well. So she did.

"Really? I'm surprised I haven't seen you there." She said noncommitedly, quite proud of her casual voice.

He raised his eyebrows. "I thought you didn't like going to gyms?"

"I don't. But I do go, occasionally, with Harry and Ron. Just for fun." Hermione replied easily, taking another bite.

"Are you going tomorrow, then?"

"Of course." She smiled, "Are you?"

"Yeah. Maybe I'll see you there." He was smiling back at her, his grey eyes intrigued and she couldn't help but agree, as long as he kept on looking at her like that.

"Definitely."

_Oh bullocks._

"You _want_ to come today?" Harry's jaw actually fell open and Ginny slapped his arm. "Sorry." He said immediately, causing Ron to mouth 'whipped' behind his back.

"Yes, is there a problem?" Hermione asked testily, shoving her salad leaves around and crushing two croutons. Ron had dropped his sandwhich back onto the plate, splattering egg salad all over. He seemed to have recovered quite well, probably due to Ginny's apparent control over him.

"Of course not." Shelby said quickly, because both men seemed momentarily dysfunctional. "We'd be glad for you to come along! What prompted the sudden change?"

"Just a desire to connect my spiritual self with my physical self." Hermione shrugged, enjoying how easily her new yoga lingo fit into everyday conversation.

"Your 'spiritual self'?" Ron chortled, exchanging a grin with Harry. "Sounds kind of girly to me. And dodgy."

"Loads of men take yoga!" She retorted, outraged. "Lots of _manly_ men take yoga! Will, for one. And Malfoy, he takes yoga, and let me tell you, his muscles are more impressive than _yours_."

Immediately the competitive natures of Harry and Ron kicked in, making their eyes narrow with determination. "Fine, you can come tonight." The red-head said, and then muttered, "I'll show you how manly I am."

_Men. _She rolled her eyes at Ginny, who seemed to understand her thoughts completely. _They think insulting their muscles is a direct question to their masculinity. _

"Excellent." Shelby grinned, "You've finally come to the dark side."

"Of course she has." Ginny rolled her eyes. "We have Draco Malfoy!"

"Ginny!" She cried out, flushing. However, she couldn't help but think of his grin the previous night and the way he mischeviously teased her. Suddenly, she was blushing for an entirely different reason and stabbed another crouton, ducking her head so her friends wouldn't notice.

"I'm ready!" Hermione announced, entering the small sitting room in her flat. Her friends sat in various positions around the room, all outfitted in sweat pants and old t-shirts. She herself wore a pair of the capri pants she'd bought for yoga and a plain shirt she'd gotten on a trip to Brazil with Ben and had never had a chance to wear.

"About time!" Ron complained loudly. "It's a gym, not a beauty parlour!"

"We've only been waiting for five minutes, Ron." Shelby said pointedly, "Besides, I think she looks nice."

"Thanks. Shall we head out?" She asked, casually shouldering the bag she took with her to yoga. They'd intended to meet her there, but she'd insisted they come to her flat first and bribed them with cookies, one of the few things she could actually make. She wouldn't admit it, but she didn't particularily want to walk into the gym alone.

"Yeah." Their group stood up and, after they made sure she knew where they were going, each person disappeared with a _pop_. When Hermione opened her eyes – she'd developed a tendency to close them when she disapparated - she found herself in a short but concealed alley outside the muggle gym. They were recognized a lot less in muggle places, so when Harry had stumbled across the Hillside Recreational Sport Centre he'd seen it as a stroke of luck.

Immediately upon arrival they hurried into the gym, pulling their clothes tighter around their bodies against the cold. The lobby was bright and sporty looking people were walking around, looking very fit. Hermione wondered if any of them did yoga. Perhaps she'd strike up a conversation at the juice bar, and they'd become lifelong friends and do yoga together all the time, helpfully contorting each others' legs into weird positions.

"Hello." The woman at the reception desk smiled familiarily at their group, and gave Hermione a questioning look. "Did you want a pass?"

"I have a membership." She flashed the card with her picture, feeling pleased with herself. Almost a year ago she'd been dragged to Hillside, but had felt immediate dislike and when a crisis had come up at the Ministry she'd left minutes after purchasing the five year membership.

"Alright. Go on through." She looked unsure, as though her entire life had been jolted and jerked into completely unheard of territory, just from the sight of Hermione.

The others didn't seem to notice her odd behaviour so she didn't mention it. The males and females parted at the locker divide and she stashed her bag in the locker she got with her membership yet had never used.

"Ready?" Ginny asked excitedly, tying her hair back. "I'm so glad you decided to come with us!"

"Me, too." Shelby agreed heartily and Hermione grinned, nodding. "Shall we go, ladies?"

When they reached the workout area, Harry and Ron were already on treadmills pointed into steep hills, chatting away and jogging. The extremly large and spacious area was nowhere near the small, crowded and hot room she'd imagined the gym to be. Her eyes quickly moved over the people there and she didn't spot any blond heads – er, anyone else she knew.

"Where do you usually start?" She asked, staring around her at all the contraptions.

"I like the Thighenator 300." Shelby offered, pointing at a complex looking machine with no grips but what looked like platforms for feet.

"And I usually hit the dumbells for a bit." Ginny pointed off to a wall where a line of brightly coloured dumbells rested in various weights. They were awfully small looking, she noted. "Just to warm up."

"Huh. Maybe I'll check out the…Maybe I'll do some stretches first." Hermione experimentally twisted her torso. "It's always important to make sure your muscles are in good health before you do serious exercise."

"Right. Well if you need help, just come and get us." The Weasley grinned merrily at her and wandered off towards the far corner.

Hermione leaned over to touch her toes, making sure her legs remained straight. She wasn't very good at this one; her hands could only go to her ankles. Nevertheless she held the position, pleased with her self control, because she felt like her calves were turning to jelly. _It must be the yoga. I'm facing the pain. I own the pain. In fact, I _am_ the pain!_

"Can I help you with something?" Startled, she jumped and cracked her back very loudly, which nearly resulted in her toppling over. The man who had spoken was muscular and outfitted in gym wear and had a card hanging around his neck, identifying him as Jake. "Are you OK?"

"Oh. Yeah, yeah I'm good. Just stretching." To demonstrate that she lifted her hands in the air and bent her torso to the right, accidentally hitting him in the process. "Oh! Sorry!"

"That's alright." He replied easily, taking a step away from her with a friendly smile. "Did you need help with anything? Like how to use one of the machines?"

She shrugged, trying to appear casual and nonchalent. "I was getting ready to try this one."

The machine in question was labeled the Biceps of Fury and had a black seat with two matches handles about the same level as where her head would be sitting down. There were thick metal cords in the back and it all looked very difficult to understand. To be honest, it looked like a big hunk of metal.

"Excellent." He grinned cheerily and beckoned her, so she followed him dutifully and sat down on the seat. "You're going to grab the handles with your wrists facing you."

She did as he said, grimacing as her fingers touched what was no doubt infested with germs. "Have you ever worked out before?"

"Not really." Hermione said, avoiding the fact that she'd never worked out at _all_.

"Alright, so we'll start with five pounds." He turned around and she heard some clanging, before he was back in front of her. "You're going to pull down."

"OK." Frowning at the simplicity she pulled down on the handles. There was a big crash as the weights connected to the cord she'd pulled hit the top of the machine.

"Maybe we'll move up to ten." Jake shuffled again out of her line of sight and a few more clanging sounds ensued, before he returned and gestured for her to pull again. She complied, feeling the extra weight but still finding it quite easy to lift. "Fifteen, then."

_This is pretty simple. _She thought smugly. _I'm a lot more fit than I thought! _He told her to pull five times in a row and she did as was told with little difficult.

"Twenty."

It wasn't long before her muscles were practically screaming in agony and she was sweating, trying to control her breathing. "You know…" She took a moment, gasping out, "I think I'm going to go get a water."

He nodded in acceptance, gave her a few words of encouragement and wandered off to help an extremly attractive blond woman who was practically collapsing on the treadmill and kept jabbing buttons in an attempt to turn it off. Wiping her forehead casually she hurriedly left the room and descended a flight of stairs, passed a few women in the locker room and walked out into the lobby.

The cool air hit Hermione and she sighed in welcome relief. _It really is true that exercise makes you happy! _People gave her strange looks, probably due to her flushed face, which was ridiculous. They were in a gym, after all. The point was to work out.

"I'll have the Raspberry Mango Banana Tropical Explosion please." Hermione said, leaning against the counter and exchanging a look of understanding with the woman at the bar. _We both experience the gym, _she thought sagely, a bit disappointed when the woman picked up her purse and walked away. _Oh, well._

"Alright. Just finished your workout?" Marie – or so her nametag said – replied nicely.

"No, I've only just started." She shrugged, "I suppose I'll get a bottle of water, too. Just in case I get thirsty."

As she was paying for her drinks, her eyes caught a flash of platinum blond and she instantly stood up straighter, looking after it with distracted interest. "Here's your water." Marie tried to hand her the bottle and she waved her hand distractedly in that direction, trying to take it. Instead, she ended up batting it over the counter and sent it flying off into the lobby in the way circular objects tend to do during crucial moments of your life.

"Sorry!" Marie said, alarmed, but Hermione muttered something along the lines of, 'My fault!' before grabbing her smoothie and taking off after her drink.

_Stop! Stop! _She called after it in her mind and watched in horror as it rolled towards the head she'd been staring at moments before. It came to rest in front of a pair of expensive looking trainers and she stopped in front of him, still staring at the water bottle at his feet and half crouched over.

"Hermione." He sounded as surprised as she felt humiliated. Which was extremely.

"Oh! Malfoy. Its you. I'm disappointed." She said quickly, straightening herself out and raising her eyes to meet his. The water bottle flew from her mind as her eyes roved his face and timid butterflies flew around in her stomach. "I was hoping it was someone I actually like."

Draco stared at her in amusement, his handsome face smirking slightly. "I was hoping I would run into you."

"Yes, well." To save her dignity she took a sharp sip of her smoothie, but somehow managed to suck in an icechip and coughed, her face turning red and her eyes watering.

"Are you alright?" He looked alarmed and stepped closer, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm-fine-" She managed, eyes bulging as air moved down her windpipe with violent gasping noises. "Back-a-way."

Instead of doing as she'd asked he just stood beside her until her coughing subsidded and her face returned to a normal colour. The other people in the lobby looked on with concern and slight fascination. "Alright now?"

"Yes." She was about to take another sip but eyed the drink hesitantly instead. "Anyways, you're interupting my workout."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "I had no idea your workout consisted of chasing around a waterbottle like a madwoman."

She blushed. "Yes…Well. It does. And I am neither mad nor a wo- Well. OK, I am a woman."

"I'm glad we sorted that out." He said, smiling in a way that made her heart palpatations quicken. "I want to ask you something."

"Ask, then. My dumbars - _bells_ - are waiting." She pretended not to hear him laughing and raised an eyebrow, flicking her ponytail. Draco was one of the few people she could act like this – superior and constantly miffed – and not feel hideously guilty about it.

"I wanted to know if you were interested in going to the Auror Banquet next Friday." His eyes flickered uncertainly away from hers to the floor and then back again, as if he'd asked her something personal.

"Oh, yes I do plan on going." She said, failing to see the point at all. "I see you there a lot, remember?"

Not that she ever talked to him, so he probably didn't.

"I meant with me. Together. Do you want to go together?" His face was slightly flushed, as if he'd been on the treadmill for a bit – though if he was as fit as he was supposed to be, it was probably more like a few _hours_ of intense, non-stop sprinting.

"Oh. Yes, that would be lovely." She said, smiling in a suddenly friendly way.

"Good. Shall we meet at the entrance, then?"

"Yes, that will be wonderful." Her mouth was working on autopilot and being very nice and complacent. She wasn't quite sure what part of her brain was making her agree to what he was saying, but it was the same part that was making her back up and, eventually, the same part that made her trip on the water bottle that had rolled away during her coughing attack. Her arms went flying and, unfortunately, so did her smoothie. Right in Draco's direction.

"Oh dear." She stared at him as her smoothie dripped down from his chest all over his clothes to the floor, where the cup had popped open and was rolling away. He was looking at her with an expression of total shock and she stood awkwardly, the remanents of her smoothie still in the bottom of the cup.

"So…Are we still on for Thursday?"

"Do you know what you're wearing yet?" Lindsay asked her that night. Hermione had invited them all over for dinner at her house after they'd finished up at the gym and was trying to cook chicken with little success. Of all the things she'd never succeeded in, cooking was the worst. She could do basic recipes, but anything beyond lasagne – and that was lasagne from a frozen box - was out of her league and often resulted in copious amounts of baking soda being dumped into her oven.

"No." She replied, wiping sweat from her forehead as she checked the chicken again. "I haven't really had time to think about it."

"We'll have to look through all your dresses, then." Ginny said thoughtfully, "This one is muggle themed, so you've got plenty."

"I thought the last one was muggle?" She asked, poking the chicken's leg with a knife. They alternated between casual, formal, black tie, muggle and wizard to keep variety.

"No, you weren't at the last one. You had to submit your conclusive statement or something like that."

Hermione rolled her eyes. She'd long since given up trying to correct their improper legal jargon. "Oh."

"You could wear the blue one. The one that's floor length." Lindsay suggested thoughtfully and she and Ginny began to chatter enthusiastically. The two then proceeded to wander into Hermione's bedroom and look through her closet, their voices floating down the hall. "That might be a bit too fancy, though, floor length…

"Harry?" She called out, giving up. "How do I know if the chicken is done?"

He got up from the couch and came inside. "Does the juice run clear?"

"How clear is clear?" She asked as he leaned over to look at the chicken. It was slightly ominous looking, to be honest, with its legs tied together, its head cut off and its bulking size just _sitting_ there.

Harry was shaking his head, grinning. "You graduated at the top of our class, were offered about a billion jobs the next day and are possibly the brightest witch of our generation and you don't remember how to check a chicken? I told you this last time. Stick the knife in…" His eyes glinted with humor as she did as he said. "Now pull it out."

She watched the liquid slither down her knife, bits of fat glittering in the light and a slightly pink gleam to it. "No, its not done." Hermione shook her head and set the knife down, picking up the pot with two cloth pads.

"Malfoy must really have affected you." Continued her ravenhaired friend, "I've told you this every time we're here and you try to cook chicken."

"Malfoy does not affect me!" She blushed, slamming the oven door shut and stirring the mashed potatoes somewhat violently. She'd mashed them a bit too early, and was being really watchful that nothing happened to them.

"Hermione, come try this on!" Ginny appeared at the doorway to the kitchen and ushered her over to her bedroom, where they'd pulled out all the dresses she'd acquired over the past seven years and were sorting through them.

"Ginny, I'm a grown woman. I can decide what to wear on my own."

Ignoring her, the two other woman began to pull off her shirt and she let out a small cry of protest. "Stop _stripping_ me!"

They wouldn't listen, however, and she was forced to tug on every single dress she owned for their inspection. She did not do it with grace, either. "This is ridiculous." Hermione grumbled as she pulled on one she'd bought many years earlier. "I feel like I'm back in Hogwarts!"

"Wow, Hermione, look!" Ginny said, impressed. "Your breasts grew!"

"Ginny!" She protested, lifting her hands. "This was snug originally! That's why I'm, well, you know! A bit…uncovered."

"Stop ogling her!" Lindsay said, laughing. She paused for a moment a second later, though, and looked at Hermione in concern. "Do you smell burning?"

"No!" She gasped, dashing from the room and into the kitchen, passed Harry and Ron, who watched her with amusement. She yanked open her oven door with one hand, tried to hold the top of her dress with the other and watched in horror as steam gushed out in black clouds and she saw that –

_Her chicken was on fire._

Reaching for the baking soda she kept right beside the oven, she yanked off the top and threw it on top of the fire, followed by water and more baking soda. The mashed potatoes had congealed to the pot and were hard to the point that she had to hit them several times with the spoon to get any sort of response. With one last, desperate spurt of hope she looked into the pot with the rice and saw that they had soaked up all the water, were hideously bloated and were a dark, dark brown.

"Ugh." She sighed in defeat, leaving the kitchen. Her friends were standing and watching her with amusement. "What a waste! Now we have to order pizza! Again!"

"Er…Actually, we already did." Ron said, attempting to stifle his grin. "About half an hour ago. Just in case."

"Hmph." She glowered and then jumped as her fire alarm went off. "Honestly! What is _with_ these stupid contraptions!"

The doorbell rang, which she miraculously heard over the screeching alarm and she waved at Harry, who had moved to get it. "I suppose that's the pizza boy? I can get it, it is my house, after all. Can you open a few windows? I'm sure they're used to all this by now."

"Hermione, your dress is a bit…" Ginny gestured at her front and she rolled her eyes.

"Its fine." She shook her had, shifting the full teal skirt. With a sigh she pulled up the top as much as possible and then walked to the door, opening it with a sigh. "Don't worry about the alarm, there's been a small fire in the kit-"

"I hope that's not what you're wearing next week." Draco's voice made her hands – which were already digging through her purse for her wallet – freeze. "Not that _I _would mind if you did."

"Malfoy?" She stared in astonishment and then embarassment. Her fire alarm was going off, smoke was clouding her apartment and a foul stench was floating around from all the burned food. Not to mention her overly exposed flesh.

"Do you want us to throw the chicken out the window? We'll check first, of course, to make sure that woman isn't there this time." Lindsay's voice called from around the corner, and then, "Oh, nevermind, its still on fire!"

"Ahem." She coughed awkwardly as he grinned, tucking her hair behind her ear. "There's been a small emergency. Why are you here?"

"I came to talk to you about Thursday, there's been a slight change in plans." He said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Oh." She tried to quench her disappointment. "That's alright. Why didn't you send an owl like normal people?"

"I didn't think about that. I was around here, anyway." Draco admitted, shrugging. "I wanted to know if I we could meet at 8:00 instead. My mother's birthday is that day and we're having a small gathering. It should be over by then, though."

"Oh!" She smiled in happiness. So they would still go together. "Yes, that should be fine."

"Good." He smiled at her and her stomach jumped around a few times. To her relief, the fire alarm stopped wailing.

"Hermione? What should we do with the chicken?" Lindsay's voice was coming nearer and she watched in horror as the woman came around the corner, tripped on one of those springy cords sticking out of the wall by the door, and sent the chicken flying. Stupidly she tried to catch it, however, miraculously, she did.

"Ouch! This is hot!" That was probably because it had been on fire moments before. Her arms instinctively sent the chicken flying back up and straight at Draco, where it hit him in the chest and sent him flying backwards from its weight. "Sorry!"

She hurried over to help him up. He shook his head, "Out of everything I've ever been hit with, a chicken has not been one of them."

She smiled meekly while Lindsay gathered the bird up and sheepishly ducked out of view. "I don't suppose you like pizza?"

He stared into her eyes, his grey eyes happy and warm. "I love it."

"Hello Hermione!" Suzie smiled cheerfully at her as she entered the door and she stared in astonishment. The room was covered in hardwood floors and the walls weren't even visible behind the massive bookshelves, piled high with books. There was a ladder propped up against one of the shelves and a desk with several chairs in the opposite corner. It looked like a library and she couldn't help but beam as a familiar feeling of content washed over her. It had been awhile since she'd been able to actually visit a library for more than grabbing a few books, as she usually worked at home or in the office.

"Hello." She said, grinning back. "Good week?"

"It was great! And yours?"

"Wonderful." She said, laying out her yoga mat and settling herself in the usual spot. A few minutes later Will joined her. She knew from the sound of his mat laying beside her. She'd opted to lie on her back with her eyes closed and just rest there.

"Tired?" He asked kindly, unrolling his own mat.

She opened one eye, "No, just at ease."

"Ah. The library, right. This is your favourite place. It is nice." He agreed, leaning back on his hands.

She nodded as best she could, her hair rubbing against the mat and creating static. "Hello, Draco." Her body tensed as Suzie's happy voice floated over to her and she sat upright, her hair floating around her face from all the static electrcity.

"This is…interesting." His dry voice sent chills running all over her body and she watched him stare around the room.

"It's a library." She said before she could contain herself. He immediately focused his attention on her.

"Really?" His sarcastic voice was somehow still warm. "I had no idea, having never been in a library myself."

Hermione couldn't keep herself from flushing, and when she opened her mouth to say something intelligent and witty, nothing emerged. _Why does this always happen around him?_ She seethed, frowning. It was funny how they kept meeting each other outisde of class but inside they still treated each other the same.

"It's nice, though. I like libraries, too. Very relaxing." He smiled agreeably at her and moved to take his place on his yoga mat. She couldn't think of anything to say and opted for frowning. "Oh, Hermione, coffee later?"

"Sure." She replied immediately and then winced at her eager tone. _Oh well._ Will raised his eyebrows at her and she grinned, before turning to the front as Suzie began. They no longer moved in circles to go over one good and bad moment from the past week but moved in zig zagged patterns through the class.

"My husband and I went to a prenatal class and met another couple due around the same time, so went out to lunch together." Bethany said with a smile. "A bad thing…Well, I lost the key to my house and had to wait half an hour for my husband to get home so he could unlock the door."

The group gave the sort of appreciative groan one gave from remembering an encounter like that of their own and then turned to Gavin, as she'd found out. "The good thing is that I got a good great on my curse breaking practical theory test," he said and a few people murmured congratulations to him, "And the bad is that I went through a bad break up."

"Sorry to hear that!" Suzie said sadly, yet somehow sounding enthusiastic. "Hermione?"

"I sealed the deal with a client of mine," she said, barely refraining from grinning from ear to ear, "However I _also, _erm, had a bit of a cooking accident."

Draco seemed to get a lot of amusement out of that one, which made her flush ever-so-slightly. He began without being prompted, "I finished up a case this week, which was good. Unfortunately, a friend of mine had an accident and had to go to Saint Mungos."

"What happened?" She asked, frowning, but he shook his head. Suzie had made it quite clear that they weren't to make actual comments on anyone's good or bad stories, so she reluctantly turned to look at the only other teenager in the class.

"Well," Sophia began contemplatively, "The good thing is definitely that had a nice dinner out with my parents. The bad was that I have to pay for that dinner, which was _really_ expensive."

Tittering quietly they all began to gather themselves, as Sophia was the last to talk, and turned to Suzie. She smiled meditatively at them and then began with one of Herimone's favourites, the _bhujanga_, which meant snake. She was pretty well accustomed to it and allowed herself to relax completely.

"Stretch your legs back." Suzie spoke calmy as music began to play. "Point your toes and let your muscles rejoice in this simple movement…Spread your hands on the floor, just below your shoulders… Hug your body with your elbows. Make sure the tops of your feet, thighs and pelvis are firmly pressed to the floor."

Hermione's mind drifted away and she looked around the room, interestedly noting that she seemed to be doing better than half the class. The teenage girl seemed to be struggling with impatience and wasn't able to relax and there was another man whose eyes were wide open and was frowning. Draco, on the other hand, moved in complete synchronization with Suzie. She wondered if his eyes were closed, the way Suzie had suggested they be.

She also couldn't help but notice that when he raised himself upwards on his arms, the muscles there flexed and his shirt fell forward slightly, displaying, quite clearly, a muscled stretch of back. She leaned forward slightly, tilting her head to the side in hopes of chancing a look at his abdomen, in case it was an equally interesting sight to behold.

It was. It definitely was.

She couldn't resist smiling smugly to herself as she thought about the fact that they were going out to the Auror banquet the next night together. Will opened his eyes for a moment to check what Suzie was doing and caught her eye, giving her a puzzled look, to which she replied by shrugging, smiling and focusing on Suzie's calm, fluent movements. She slid easily into the _Dhanurasana_, or bow, position with a sigh of contentement, which drew the eyes of half the classroom. There was soft music playing, but they were used to absolutely no speaking, with the obvious exception of Suzie.

Blushing, she met Draco's eyes and coughed awkwardly. When everyone else turned away and faced Suzie, Draco's gaze remained fixed on her and he smiled. She simply looked at him for a moment, letting herself slowly dip into his eyes and submerge herself completely, before tentatively smiling back. A warmth was bubbling inside her and her heart was beating faster than was normal and tension seemed to stretch the distance between them, crackling. Something sharp was connecting their eyes and held them, locked together until –

"Hermione, Draco? Is there a problem?" Suzie asked softly, and everyone else in the room turned to look at them. She was very conscious of the fact that they were reamining in the _Dhanurasana_ position, while everyone else had moved on to something she didn't recognize.

"I thought I dropped my earring." She said quickly, because that was only excuse she could think of using at the moment. "Draco was just helping me find it."

Draco's eyes jerked back to hers and he smiled, and she realized she'd called him by his first name. Which, really, had just been prompting from Suzie's use of it, and not anything else, of course. Obviously.

"Sorry." Hermione hurriedly switched into the position everyone else was in and smiled, blushing, at Will. He grinned at her in understanding, which was slightly discomfiting. She looked away quickly, glad that the rest of the class had turned back to the front once again.

"And inhale…And exhale…" Suzie's voice guided her movements and slowly brought her back to a state of unblemished peace. Hermione smiled, moving herself just a bit so she could get another glimpse of his abdomen.

Hermione stepped through the lift doors and onto the Law Enforcement floor, her lunch in hand. She passed a few people she knew and greeted them without stopping. She knew several Ministry workers who tended to talk for minutes upon _minutes _until they were reminded of the time and set off running so as not to be late, so she tried to avoid those situations like the plague. There was really nothing more annoying then being on your lunch break and ending up stuck in the middle of a long conversation.

"Hermione, I just got the briefings from-" A tall, fair skinned male came around the corner, holding a few folders and followed closely by a girl.

"She's on lunch, Tim!" The girl slapped his arm, rolling her eyes behind her rectangular black glasses.

Tim glared at her, brushing his dark hair out from his eyes. "Shut up. I was just letting her know."

"You were just being an overachiever and trying to get on her good side." Retorted Jill, tucking a few strands of her pencil straight blond hair behind her ear. The two had graduated from Hogwarts the year before and she'd taken them on as assistants while they "explored their options." She had a small suspicion their options hadn't been doing much exploring. She didn't really mind, however, because they were really involved, intelligent and helpful. Their bickering also served as amusement on certain days and she liked the company.

"Hermione, would you have wanted to know I got them?" He turned to her, his expression one of exasperation and not annoyance. She was bit concerned for him, to be honest. He hadn't seemed to be getting much sleep and seemed quite down lately, so the change in his enthusiasm that day was a good one.

"I would," she agreed, "but thanks for caring about my eating habits, Jill."

"No problem." She smiled her wide grin and the three set about going to Hermione's office. "By the way, a guy phoned you-"

"I thought you were concerned for her eating habits?" Tim rolled his eyes, dropping his clipboard and folder onto his desk as they passed.

"It wasn't for work." Jill responded, rolling her eyes again and mimicking Tim's actions. Their desks were just outside Hermione's office, resting beside each other. She wasn't very strict with them, so they felt no shame in adopting perches on the edge of her desk – Tim – and on the ledge by the fake window – Jill.

"Draco Malfoy?" Tim suggested, his eyebrows creasing slightly as he gave her a thoughtful look. Hermione's heartbeat sped up and her hands paused as they unwrapped her sandwhich.

"How do you know I'm…acquainted with him?" She asked slowly, resuming her unwrapping after a noticeable hesitation.

"Oh. Er, just a guess. I've seen him around here. Hovering." He said quickly in a way that made her slightly suspicious of the truthfulness of that.

"OK." She decided to leave that the way it was and pursued a more interesting topic. "Did he say what he wants?"

Jill was just opening her mouth when It happened.

"Hermione," Ginny appeared out of nowhere. Although that wasn't entirely possible, because this was part of the Ministry that had anti-apparation wards and the only person who could break through them was Harry. Not that the Ministry was aware of that, of course. "Do you have _any_ idea how difficult it is to track you down? Half the Ministry has talked to you today!"

"I told you she would be in her office." Shelby said, following her inside. "It makes sense to check there first."

"We've decided to take you home and get ready!" Ginny said brightly, as though she didn't hear anything. "So let's go!"

She stood, staring in confusion with her ham and swiss raised to her lips. Jill and Tim looked on in interest. "Get ready for…?"

"The Auror banquet." Shelby said patiently, "You have to look your best."

"Are you saying I'm incapable of looking nice without you two?" She asked, slightly offended as she took a bite.

"Have you got a hot date?" Tim asked brightly, grinning and taking a sip of water from the bottle he'd held onto. Ginny glanced briefly at him and then turned back to Hermione with the same, slightly wide-eyed, excited expression she'd worn before. Jill merely watched the proceedings with amusement flickering across her face.

"She's going to the Auror banquet with Draco Malfoy." Shelby replied, a small small on her face. "So she's got to look the best she's ever looked."

"I fail to see why you two are here now, though." She shook her head, wishing she hadn't been in the office when they'd come looking. There were only a few things scarier than Ginny and Shelby when they wanted to do something. One of which included them with a blow dryer and makeup.

"So we can start." Ginny replied, tugging her arm. "Let's go back to your place."

"Ginny, I'm at work!" She protested, taking another bite of her sandwhich and using the time it took to swallow to try to come up with ways to escape from them.

"Hermione, you could leave if you wanted to." Jill piped up, grinning when Hermione sent her a betrayed look. "You're the boss!"

"Wear something purple." Tim said, looking her over carefully. "Knock 'em dead!"

"The point of going to work is to stay there." Hermione said, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Not be ambushed and dragged out by your friends."

"Maybe for you." Shelby said, shrugging and taking hold of one of her arms, "I've always sort of dreamed about it."

Ginny took her other arm and began to steer her to the door. "Thanks, you two, you've been of great assistance!"

"Shouldn't you lock your office door?" Jill asked as she and Tim followed them out. They paused while she played for time, purposefully fumbling the spell and recasting it. It was quite a clever spell, actually, coded in to her specific magical signature so no one else could lock or unlock it. The second she heard the affirmative click her arms were taken and they were leading her away, after Hermione quickly gave them instruction on what to do while she was gone.

"You do realize people are going to think you're arresting me?" She asked as a few people in Law Enforcement gave her strange looks.

"I suppose that wouldn't do." Ginny admitted, "But if you run, we'll tackle you down. That's worse, because then they'll think you tried to escape."

The consented to letting her go on her own and stepped into the lift. For a moment she thought about running the other direction, but they weren't Aurors for nothing and the eager, feral gleams in their eyes made her reconsider.

"Purple is such a pretty colour on you." Shelby murmured thoughtfully while she and Ginny stared at Hermione. The brunette looked down at herself, smoothing the lavender dress over her abdomen.

"I agree." Ginny replied, admiring Hermione. "He won't know what hit him!"

"Stop being so ridiculous." She couldn't help but let a small smile escape, however, as she looked into the mirror. A translucent veil of lavender silk fell over a knee length darker skirt. The sweetheart neckline complimented her face and the straps were a thin line of sparkling diamonds. Her hair was partially held back, the rest tumbling artfully to her shoulders. The added details of her strappy heels and simple but elegant jewelry finished it off nicely. "What time is it?"

"7:30." Shelby said brightly, as though it wasn't completely ridiculous that they'd been helping Hermione dress for multiple hours. "We should probably go get ready, now."

"Do Harry and Ron know where you are?" She asked, looking between the two.

"Oh, yes. We told them we'd have to arrive a bit late. They're probably holed up somewhere, talking Auror business or Quidditch." Ginny waved her hand, shrugging. "You know Harry's socially awkward, so he doesn't mind."

They had a laugh at their friend's expense, before the two decided to head off to get ready. "We'll see you there! Don't do anything _too_ naughty!" The redheaded woman waved brightly and stepped into the floo.

"Give Draco my best." Shelby said energetically and followed her friend.

And then she was alone, for the first time in what felt like forever. Having two people fawn over her and forcefully make her try on the dresses that hadn't managed to force her into the other night was surprisingly tiresome. She didn't quite know what to do with herself, since she was completely ready and still had some time before she was supposed to meet Draco.

For a few minutes she just looked at her reflecting, thinking about what she was doing. Finding herself attracted to Draco Malfoy and going out with him was not what she'd anticipated to be included in her new and improved relaxed life of yoga. But she didn't mind one bit, and due to the fact that her friends seemed more skeptical about the advantages of yoga than they did about whether Draco's affection was real, she was satisfied that there wasn't a problem with it.

Besides that, when she pictured her new and improved relaxed future of yoga, Draco was always in it.

That might have troubled her at one point, but she'd become a lot more open to relationships over the last few years after, ironically, multiple failures. A lot of people had history with each other, but if there was a real chance of happiness, despite that history, why _shouldn't_ she take ahold of it?

With one last, swift look around her flat, just in case the answers to the questions of the world popped out at her, Hermione snapped up her clutch purse and disapparated. She found herself just outside the dining room of the banquet, the area they'd specially removed anti-apparation words so that the people attending didn't have to walk halfway across the Ministry to get to it from the apparation point.

The entrance was lavishly decorated. Each event they chose a different flower to head the decorations and this time they were beautiful hibiscus flowers in vases all around the room, surrounded by golden lights and small, glowing beads. Inside the golden arch entrance she could spot a large collection of circular tables laid with white cloth and a centerpeice of multiple coloured hibiscuses.

It must have been only seconds after she'd absorbed her surroundings that Draco appeared across the entrance from her. She might not have noticed him, due to the milling of people around her, had his hair not flashed brightly in the light. He spotted her in seconds and, as soon as he took her appearance in, began to smile and cross the short distance between them.

The same smile had appeared on her own face and she was helpless to stop it. He looked amazing – beyond amazing, really. He had on a black suit that added extra detail to the fine colour of his skin and the shockingly light shade of blond his hair was. His tie was the closest replica of his stormy grey eyes she'd ever encountered and the grin on his face really just topped it all off.

"You look great." He said, giving her a once-over again and then leaned in to kiss her on the cheek.

"So do you." She replied calmly, as though her heart wasn't fluttering in a mildly uncomfortable way.

"Shall we?" He held out his arm gallantly, which she accepted and the pair joined the throng heading into the dining room. "Because I listed you as my guest, we won't be at the table with Potter and Weasley. You don't mind, do you?"

"No." She said bouyantly, smiling as she caught sight of her friends entering behind them. Shelby and Ginny had been awfull fast in getting ready, compared to the time it had taken them to get her all fixed up for the evening. "You'll just have to engage me in conversation so interesting I forget!"

"That shouldn't be a problem." He gave her a grin, "I'll just mention House Elves and you'll talk yourself silly."

"It deserves attention!" She said, flushing slightly as he led them around a small group of chatting Aurors. "My efforts to bring more notice to the problem_ have_ downsized significantly but I still feel that its one of the most ignored and understated issues we have in our modern society! So few people actually _acknowledge _the dependance they have on these poor creatures, who have no choice whatsoever…" Upon noticing the amused grin on his face she cut off. "Well, we can discuss this later."

"Here we are." Draco smiled at the six people already sitting at the table and pulled her chair out for her, which she gracefully sat in. Or at least, sort of. She hit her toe rather hard off the leg, but figured no had noticed so she pretended it hadn't happened. "Hermione, this is my good friend Blaise Zabini."

He inclined his head across the table at the handsome black man sitting there that she had a very vague rememberance of from Hogwarts. He had a slightly haughty expression on his face and sharply angled eyes, but the smile he wore in greeting erased any sense of superiority one could receive on the opposite side of that and she found herself smiling instinctively back. "Glad to meet you, finally, and a face to all that talk." His voice was deep and appealing in a flowing, musical way.

From the cross expression on Draco's face he wasn't supposed to say that, but she ignored it with a small blush. "You as well."

"This is my wife, Charlotte." She could have guessed their relationship from the way they both unconsciously turned towards each other, the light touch Blaise grazed across her shoulder and the wedding band she saw on his hand.

"Hi, Charlotte." The woman on the end of her salutation smiling beautifully, her delicate facial features and warm eyes giving her a rather approachable look, quite the opposite of her husband. She extended a manicured hand and Hermione shook it across the table, already taking a liking to her. "It's a pleasure."

"Likewise." She said happily, sending a sly look at Hermione's companion. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Haha." Draco sounded rather forceful, "Such a charmer, Charlotte. This is Martin." He introduced her to everyone at the table, though she already knew a few. She realized afterwards that it had been done in such a way that she instantly felt comfortable around them all and not even a bit at odds. She could also tell that only Blaise and Charlotte were his guests, as there was a rather arrogant Auror who'd piled his friends into the table as well.

Before dinner there were always a few speeches and announcements to be made to recognize any exemplary Auror work that had been done recently and to acknowledge the sum that had been donated to that banquet's charity of choice. The proceeds of all ticket sales went to one of them, which was one of the reasons Hermione went to as many as she could. Otherwise she would have felt terrible, enjoying a fancy evening and nice food while people and creatures everywhere suffered.

She usually didn't listen to the speeches, as it got somewhat tiring listening to people being congratulated for cases with strange names that you had no idea what they were, but Draco explained what they all meant and who had done what in a fast undertone, which cleared a lot up. And also he leaned in quite close to tell her these things and his breath sent chills running up and down her body, which she was quite certain Blaise had caught sight of, if the small, amused smile on his face was any indication.

The endless talking finally ended – she'd sort of tuned that out and just listened to Draco talk - and servers appeared out of almost nowhere, listing off their choices for each course they would eat. The woman sitting to Hermione's left – Shirley – spent a tiresome amount of time asking about the calorie count of every single dish, so their server was the last to leave the room.

"I really should stop coming," Shirley said, shaking her head winsomly. The blonde curls piled atop her head bounced slightly but didn't move, no doubt from the hairspray Hermione could smell from her position.

"Then why don't you?" She asked quizzically, wondering if she would find that, despite her obsession with the amount of calories she imbibed, she might care enough about the charities to sacrifice her stick thin body.

"What?" The woman simply blinked, as though she'd never heard anything so ridiculous and bewildering.

"Why do you come, then?" She asked pointedly, feeling as though she'd overstepped some sort of social boundry. "For the charity?"

"The charity?" She repeated and Hermione felt quite tired of her. "No, no I come because of the social appearance. You get credit for attending these, you know."

"Er, right." She said awkwardly, shifting so that she wasn't angled towards her anymore, in hopes of ending the conversation.

"I've seen you here often, with Harry Potter." Shirley continued, "I don't suppose you could introduce us?"

"I'm not sure." She would not, under any circumstance, add pain to Harry's life by making such an introduction. "He's quite busy, as of late. With Auror business, which I'm sure you understand."

"How is it that you're aquainted with the department?" Charlotte cut in before Shirley could speak again, making Hermione almost sigh in relief.

"My brother." She said fondly, looking beside her and inducing those around her to do so as well. "He's overcome to much over the years."

The happy, jovial expression on the man seated beside her's face made it seem as though he hadn't a care in the world. Hermione recalled that his name was Wilfred, and that he was there as a guest for another Auror, whose name was…Mark! Yes, the arrogant one. "Oh, really?" She asked, uncomfortable.

"There was that time when that horrible Joseph Nallats was running around, cursing everyone who'd had premarital sex." A displeased frown surfaced on her face, which could have been from the server placing her entrée in front of her. Hermione could tell she wasn't done speaking, so she waited as the woman proceeded to prod the small piece of fish before her. "Of course, wonderful Wilfred here solved _that_ case before he could do any more damage."

"I thought Draco worked on that case?" Hermione asked, glancing at him.

"Oh, well technically in the end it was Draco who nabbed him." Shirley said noncommitedly. "But if Wilfred here hadn't brought up the _topic_ of," she lowered her voice as though she was about to whisper a scandelous secret, "sex," and then returned to her normal volume, "then Draco never would have figured it out and gone and captured him."

"I thought it was Harry who captured him in the end." She said doubtfully, aware that Draco was refraining from laughing beside her with difficulty. "And Draco was the one who realized what had happened. It was a combined effort, right?"

Shirley shrugged, adding a strange flourish to it with her right hand. "Trivialities, really."

"Er, right." Hermione said, noticing with slight indignation that Blaise was smirking amusedly. Shirley was now engaged in moving around the fish on her plate to make it look like she'd been eating it, so she turned to Draco and gave him a she-is-clearly-off-her-rocker look. He grinned and winked at her.

A moment later their servers were back, whisking away their plates and replacing them with decadent and fancy looking salads, wrapped up in a long strip of cucumber with light raspberry vinegrettes. She inhaled the tangy smell of rasberries with happiness and began to eat, ignoring the whiny protests from Shirley about how she hadn't wanted the dressing on it.

"The injustice," Draco murmured in her ear and sent tingles running over her, "of being served with dressing. I wonder how she can bear it."

Snickering softly, she smiled into her glass.

Dinner was, overall, an enjoyable affair. Hermione was forced to spend about ten minutes listening to Wilfred modestly say he didn't have any sort of interest in these functions unless he was invited to go, and Mark always _so _dutifully provided him with an invitation that he simply couldn't refuse. Soon afterwards she tactfully drew Shirley into the conversation and then left it while they were in the middle an intense debate over whether or not munching on celery actually counted as eating, because of the calories you burnt just crunching on it.

Blaise and Charlotte had wonderful senses of humours, the kind that she was sure weren't bestowed upon many people, and so she found it very easy to keep up a conversation with them. There _was_ something in the way that Blaise watched her made her a bit uncertain about whether or not he really liked her being with Draco, but when she saw the same reserve in his wife's eyes she decided it was probably because they were only worried about their friend's feelings.

The food was, as usual, delicious and beautifully arranged on the plates to the point where it almost seemed a waste to eat them, but she did anyway. Draco paid constant attention to her in the form of small touches, and smiles and quick words under his breath while somehow managing to keep conversation with others at the table. It made her feel special in a way she hadn't felt before, or at least not in a very long time.

As the dessert plates were being taken away and Hermione washed down the mouth watering candied apple she'd eaten with the last of her glass of wine, the band playing soft dinner music picked up a song that could be used for dancing. A couple or two got up and walked to the area designated for dancing, a floor with far too much space in comparison to the people who'd attented the dinner. There was movement as people moved from their tables to those that held other people they knew.

Hermione was used to making conversation with the people around her and accepting the occasional dance proposal, so she was slightly surprised when Draco stood up and held out his hand, a faint smile on his lips. "Care to dance?"

"Sure," she replied, accepting the offered hand as she rose. He didn't let go even after they reached the dance floor, settling his other hand comfortably on her waist and drawing her in closer until their bodies touched. She looked up into his eyes, a comfortable distance that didn't make her feel like she was looking up a cliff, like she sometimes had with Ron.

The steady beating of his heart against her made something inside her twist and coil, like a snake slowly slithering across a floor. His thumb caressed the palm of her hand, sending goosebumps rushing across her flesh. Hermione might have been embarassed that so many people were around them, probably more than one watching, but couldn't bring herself to care. She leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder, in the same movement inhaling the clean, fresh scent from his robes.

_This is real. _

Several hours later she was less composed. Predictably, strands of hair had fallen in a disarray from the clip she'd repeatedly told Ginny and Shelby wouldn't hold her hair and fell around her flushed face. Draco had whirled her around the dance floor, sending her dress flying in silky waves of purple. That, combined with the intensely focussed way Draco had watched her throughout the dancing had resulted in her emotions all jumbled up as they coursed through her.

They were standing near the entrance to the room with her friends. Harry, Ron and Draco were talking away about something to do with Auror business, and the three women were talking about nothing in particular. Or at least until Ginny decided to poke fun at Hermione's supposedly adoring expression.

"Is it love already?" Ginny asked teasingly, her eyes glittering with amusement.

"It's our first date! Shh!" She protested quietly, glancing in Draco's direction. "Do you _want _him to hear?"

"He should know what he's getting into," her redheaded friend said, grinning.

"How old are you, thirteen?" Hermione replied with the roll of her eyes. She was just opening her mouth to say something else when Draco's voice whispered against her neck, sending goosebumps everywhere.

"Are you ready to leave?"

She turned to him slightly, feeling his lips brush over her neck as she did so. "Yes, are you?"

Draco nodded and slipped his hand into hers, entwining their fingers. It was such a small action, hardly significant, really, but there was something in having his hand holding hers that made her insides melt and the same dreamy smile to creep onto her face. She didn't care if she was acting like a shy little girl on her first date. The only thing that seemed to matter at the moment was the warm fingers twined in hers, never letting go.

"How's life with Draco?" Ginny asked as Hermione slipped into a chair opposite her. She picked up the glossy menu that was in the only empty place on the table and sipped the water that was waiting for her.

"Ginny, its only been a couple of weeks. You don't have to ask me that every single time I see you." She rolled her eyes, amused, and buried her head behind the menu and scanned it rapidly. "Sorry I'm late, by the way. An owl came in just as I was about to leave and I had to owl a client and tell her that no would not be appropriate for her to start dating in the middle of a domes- Well, in any case," she broke off, shaking her head. If she started ranting now, it might be awhile before she stopped. "A bit of a crisis was absolved."

"Good," Ron replied with a grin, flipping absentmindedly through the menu he'd been perusing when she'd arrived. "I talked to Draco yesturday."

The half-amused half-serious tone in his voice made her look up, images of food disappearing from her thoughts completely. "About what?"

"You know," Harry shrugged and she nearly groaned. She honestly could not imagine the three of them having a normal conversation if two of them felt they should mention it to her. "The usual. We just had a little chat. Told him that we're all adults, and we reckon he's an alright guy."

"You two estabilished that a few years ago." She said with an exasperated frown, "What else did you say?"

"Ron thought it fitting to also mention that if hurts you, we'd murder him in his sleep." Harry said offhandedly, ignoring the way her jaw dropped. He took a sip of orange juice and looked up at her through his long, dark eyelashes. "What?"

"We're not in Hogwarts anymore!" Hermione exclaimed, her eyes still a bit too wide. "You can't go around saying things like that to people I date! You never should have anyway, but – _Really_?"

"We're just looking out for your best interests." Ron patted her hand while Ginny and Shelby merely watched them in a way that made her quite suspicious.

"Did you two know about this?" She asked them, gesturing between the two males opposite her.

"Know about it? They were there! Ginny was the one who threatened to Bat-Bogey him." Harry looked fondly at his girlfriend with something akin to pride in his voice.

"Ginny!" Hermione sighed, rubbing her temples. "You've _got_ to stop doing things like that to people I know."

"He was good about it." Shelby said, "He kept a perfectly straight face when Ron said he would beat him up if he hurt you."

Ginny nodded in agreement, "And we all know how unlikely that is."

Her brother frowned at her. "I don't think I like the implications of those words, Ginny."

"That's because you don't understand what implications are. That's just one of the words you heard Hermione use in court and started using in an attempt to compensate for your less-than-intelligent looks." She said without missing a beat. Ron opened his mouth, a retort hot in hand, but their server popped up out of nowhere and began to take their orders, diverting his attention.

Hermione smiled to herself as Harry ordered and Ron flipped frantically through the menu as though he hadn't already decided what he wanted. She couldn't think of how, with her life so full already with good things, there had been enough room for Draco to slip into it and occupy a steadily growing niche in it.

They passed their menus over to Shelby and when the older woman's fingers brushed Ron's as she accepted his, they smiled at each other, a secret frission of energy traveling across their barely connected hands for a few seconds.

And then, somehow, Hermione thought she might know.

"-and then there was the one dumped coffee all over my robes because she thought I was someone else," Draco said, shaking his head solemnly as Hermione laughed. "I had to chase him down the street while she hung onto my arm, sobbed, and called me 'Al Dolché.'"

"'Al Dolché?'" She snickered, tracing the rim of her cup of tea with one hand. She looked at Draco from beneath her eyelashes, smiling at the involved expression on his face. Before they'd begun seeing each other, she'd never have dreamed he liked telling stories so much. Now, however, watching the way his hot chocolate sat forgotten and his hands moved whilst his facial features twisted in various ways to match his story, it was too obvious that there was so much more she had to learn about.

_And so much more time to do that._

It was only a couple months after the Auror banquet and it already felt like ages. As if the words _Hermione_ and _Draco_ had always been connected in the way they were now, and every day seemed to hold something exciting and new _just _because it held Draco.

He paused when he saw the smile and gave her a grin in response, lighting his face with the irresistable expression she'd been falling head over heels for ever since she'd begun to receive it. "By the time she realized I wasn't who I thought she was, she kept trying to _apologize_ to me about it while I just _told_ her I was trying to catch a criminal." He sighed exasperatedly and she laughed again. "People apparently think that we wear our Auror robes because they're fashionable."

"I can't imagine why," she wrinkled her nose, an image of the robes the Aurors were outfitted in flashed to mind.

Draco frowned in a mockingly discontented way, "Well, they look fashionable on _me_."

"Mhmm," Hermione smiled into her cup as she took a drink. "Honestly, I don't think they look good anyone."

"Really?" He raised his eyebrows and leaned in closer with a smirk, "That's not what you said a few days ago when you-"

"Draco," she hissed, looking around swiftly. "Sh! You do _not_ need to share those kind of details with-"

"-came to my office with a coffee…" He trailed off, his smirk widening with a flash of white teeth. "What _are _you thinking about?"

She flushed, glaring daggers at him. The shop was empty, since it was after their very last yoga class but she was pretty sure the people working there were snickering behind the counter.

"Can I get you two anything else?" Ths short, red haired girl who always seemed to be working when they came after yoga was standing beside them, a tired smile on her face. "We're closing in fifteen minutes."

"Already?" Hermione asked in surprise, glancing at the clock on the wall. Time always seemed to pass so quicky in the little café, and each week they seemed to stay later and later.

"Yeah," the traces of a happy smile flooded her face with relief.

"I think we're fine." Draco looked at her for assurance and she nodded, so he continued, "We'll just head out now."

"Alright, have a nice night." She smiled prettily at them and strode back behind the counter, her apron corners fluttering slightly. Draco waited while Hermione pulled on her coat and wrapped her scarf tightly around her neck. He held the door open for her and then grabbed her hand, warming it instantly with the heat from his own.

"I can't believe yoga is over already." Hermione said, staring forward at the cobbled sidewalk.

"It's been half a year." Draco pointed out, sweeping a strand of her brown hair behind her ear. The cold from his bare fingers seemed to ignite fire beneath her skin.

"I suppose. Are you signing up for the next one?" She asked casually, as if she didn't really care and wasn't too sad about the end, but had only been expressing mild disbelief over the passing time. "I am," she added for good measure and nonchalently surveyed his face.

"I am, too."

"Oh, good." Hermione replied, a pleased smile growing on her face.

"Good," Draco pulled on her arm and her body turned easily to his. In a moment his lips were close to her ear, making her breathing jump. They were usually a bit more careful about public displays of affection because both Draco and Hermione were considered part of the higher range of society and often grazed the pages of The Daily Prophet and gossip magazines. It wouldn't do any good to have pictures of them splashed all over the place. At the moment, though, the only other people on the streets were too far away to even make out more than their two figures, so instead of protesting their closeness Hermione sighed and he spoke again. "I don't think we're supposed to take it with someone we know."

"Well," Hermione kissed him quickly on the mouth, "We'll just have to pretend not to know each other."

He smiled against her lips and turned, pulling her along into side apparation. The moment the squeezing, dizzinglying close feeling subsided and her feet were on solid ground she stumbled a bit, a problem she usually had when she wasn't the one doing the apparation. Draco grasped her shoulders and pushed her gently back until she was leaning against the door to her flat. Raising her eyebrows she smiled at him.

For a long moment, there was a pause of fire between them that licked her skin and sent its heat storming through her body. His eyes scorched her with an unflinching stare that sent a series of chills running down her back that had nothing to do with the cold outside. And then something seemed to burst forth behind his eyes and before she could understand what the new, shining expression meant he swooped in and began to kiss her.

They could have been dating each other forever, he knew her so well. His hands threaded in her hair at the precise moment she her own circled his neck, and he pressed her back into the door about the same moment she felt her legs turning to jelly. And then the doorknob he'd been scrabbling with swung to the right and the support behind her turned into open air, sending them both tumbling into her flat.

Draco stared at her in silence after they'd both managed to get their balance by grappling with the wall and then the door hit the wall sharply and came flying back, hitting him in the head in the process. The look of sheer dumbfoundness, as though he couldn't remember how they'd gotten in that situation sent Hermione over the edge. She threw her head back and let out loud peals of laughter. Draco watched her for the shortest of moments and then joined her.

When her giggles finally subsided, after many renewed bursts of hilarity that made her sides ache, she found Draco staring at her intently. Hermione began to wonder how long she'd been laughing alone and neither of them seemed to breathe properly. And then he reached out slowly and brushed her hair away from her face, his eyes roving her features as though he was being presented the world. Hermione's breath caught in her throat and she watched, silent, until his grey, grey eyes finally met hers.

In his eyes she saw promise.

**Author's Note: And so ends my epic one-shot! I'm not really sure what to say about this one! I definitely enjoyed writing it, in all its massive length, so hopefully you liked reading it. It's also my first Dramione one-shot…actually, my first one shot in general! It could have been a two-shot, but I didn't really want to break it in half. :) Please tell me what you think about it!**

**Happy birthday again, Geegee! Hopefully there are many more wonderful ones to come. :)**

**Review review review!**


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